Planning your travels, part II

Following on from part I there is lots more to think about before you jet off for a trip: 

Transport. How can you travel between countries? How can you travel through the country? Seriously, are you gonna be able to manage some rough night trains, 12 hour minibuses and worse? Know your limits, then pay more to be in your comfort zone. Or as close as you can get. There are some great cheap airlines but again, a 3am wake up call for a 6am flight isn't great. Decide how much you can suck it up; I got really grumpy on my Bromo/Ijen tour because the travelling was relentless, if I wanted to do it again, I'd definitely pay more to go private. 

Country specific medication and visas. Will you have to make a decision on what countries you're going to so you know what vaccinations to get? On our trip are you going to need to take medication like malaria tablets? Do you need a visa before entry? When I was planning my trip, it happened that I was constantly alternating between high risk malaria zones and low risk malaria zones. This meant that even in the LRZ I would be taking malaria tablets (you take them for 7 days after you have left HRZ if you take Malarone) and you foot the bill for it all. If you can clump all these malaria zones together then you'll find yourself paying less for tablets that cover you for the same amount of time. Similarly, you don't want to end up paying for the rabies/other vaccinations "just in case" because you haven't planned where you're going and it's better to be covered; work out what countries (and areas) first, then let the doctor do the maths. A similar theory applies to visas - pick the countries, go on the consulate website for each country to work out if you need one, some will be fine, some will be visa on arrival, and some you will need a visa before you leave your home country. There are various loopholes (for example, if you arrive into Thailand by air you get 30 days on arrival, more than you'd get for entering another way) so that can affect your transport route, so be aware, you don't want to overstay your welcome.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. All of the above (and the previous blog) require decisions to be made - how long, who goes with you and when? As well as whether that person is also decisive enough to help you out with planning location and duration. Think things through, sleep on it and stick to a decision as much as possible. Having a beginning and end flight (to each country) is useful in working out how long you have to split between the East and West Coasts of Australia for example. But remember, booking your hotel in advance for 3 nights then wanting to leave after 2 isn't the worst decision on the world, you'll just have to decide what you'd rather. 

With parts I and II in mind, what would you do now?

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